Different types of Asbestos and what they’re used for

Asbestos can be found in many different ways, shapes and forms. Probably the most frightening thing about it is how many different applications it has had over the years and how difficult it is to even know if you’re dealing with it or not. Some of the most common places it has been used over the years include but are not limited to:
• Floor Tiles
• Ceiling Tiles
• Textured ceilings
• Car brakes
• Kettles
• Insulation for electrical wiring
• Thermal insulation for residential and commercial buildings
• Roofing and internal structural compounds
It has been used in so many different areas and all for different reasons. This makes it especially hard to identify it. Even in its raw form asbestos has many different types:Chrysotile, or white asbestos, is the most common form of raw asbestos. It is used in roof, ceilings, walls, car breaks, gaskets and boiler seals.Amosite, or brown asbestos, was used most commonly in cement sheets and pipe insulation. It is the second most common form of asbestos and was mined mainly in South-Africa.Crocidolite is likely the deadliest of all the other types of asbestos. Its fibres are extremely thin and can, therefore, stick into your lung tissue more easily. It is used in some forms of spray-on coatings, pipe insulations, plastics and cement products. The area’s where it was most commonly mined include Bolivia, South-Africa and Australia.Anthophyllite is one of the rarest forms of asbestos. It has a grey, dull green, or white colour. Anthophyllite was used in small quantities in insulation products and construction materials. Mining of this mineral started in Finland and other deposits have also been found and mined around the world.
Unlike the other types of asbestos Tremolite and Actinolite was never really intended for commercial use. Companies never intended to have them in their products but it did occasionally happen that traces of these materials would be mined accidentally along with other minerals. Even if not intentionally added to products, small trace amounts are still enough to cause any asbestos-related illness.